Passenger-vehicle



(NoModL) H. R. ROBBINS.

- PASSENGER VEHICLE.

No. 251,639. Patented Dec. 27,1881.

w i M WITNESSES INVENTOR S 1 ATTORNEYS.

N. vmns MO-Ulhgnpher, Wnhingim. D. C.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY ROBBINS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

PASSENGER-VEHICLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 251,639, dated December 27, 1881. Application filed September 28, 1681. (No model.)

I To all whom tt may concern: 1

Be it known that I, HENRY R. ROBBINS, of Baltimore city, State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Coaches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the coach. Fig. 2 is a rear elevation, and Fig. 3 is a plan view, of the rear end of the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in passenger-coaches for street travel, the object of which is to house or close in the pendent steps at the end of the coach, and provide also a door which, while it perfectly closes the body of the coach, will not be in the way of passengers in getting in and out of the coach.

To this end it consists in preserving the end entrance to the coach and its pendent steps and providing the latter with side walls and a roof, which houses in the steps and forms a species of vestibule, and then combining with the coach and this vestibule a pair of sliding doors arranged between the body of the coach and the vestibule, so that while the body of the coach is closed in by these doors the vestibule outside the door still afiords a sheltered spot for passengers in getting into the coach before the doors are opened.

In the drawings, A represents the body of the coach, which has an end entrancewith pendent steps B B. Upon each of side of these steps, and projecting from the end of the coach,

are side walls, L L, which extend from the roof of the coach to the lowest step and completely inclose the steps, so as to form a sort of vestibule. These side walls are covered at the top by an extension of the roof, and are provided at their edges with handles a for the assistance of passengers in getting on.

Just between the vestibule or housing for the steps and the interior of the coach are the sliding doors M M. These are made to come together in the middle and slide away from each other to open the entrance by movinginto the recesses formedbetween the double end walls of the coach. These doors are of the sliding type, and are preferably suspended by rollers upon a top rail, and are connected with cords or operating shafts, so as to be under the control of the driver. They are of the sliding type for the reason that there is no room in the vestibule for the doors to swing outwardly and no room in the coach for them to swing inwardly, and the doors are duplicated and meet in the middle for the reason that there is not room enough for a single door of the proper size to slide transversely to the coach far enough to fully open the doorway.

I am aware of the fact that a vestibule has been combined with a car, in which the wal of the vestibule projected inwardly from the rear end of the car and was provided with a hinged door. This inward projection ofthe vestibule interferes with the holding capacity of the car or coach, and, besides, was not arranged to house or inclose the steps. In my invention the walls of the vestibule project externally from the rear end of the coach and inx close a single set of pendent steps which are; arranged transversely to the coach.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is 75 t l. The combination, with a coach havingan end entrance and pendent steps, of the side walls, L L, projecting externally from the end of the coach, and extended roof portion forming a vestibule about the steps, and a door located between the vestibule and the interior of the coach, as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination, with a coach having an end entrance and. pendent steps, of the side walls, L L, projecting externally from the end of the coach, and extended roof portion forming a vestibule about the steps, and a pair of sliding doors located between the vestibule and the interior of the coach, arranged to meet in I the middle, substantially as and for the puro pose described.

HENRY R. ROBBINS.

Witnesses GEO. A; HEMMIGK, GHAs. O. HEMMIOK. 

